Rowan sat back in his chair and watched me, his face betraying nothing. “I do not seek power for power’s sake, only so that I can protect my own. The land borders mine. I would not take it from anyone who holds it, but if I had done what you did to Donovan, then yes, I would have taken the land, too.”
“Having Donovan’s territory would strengthen your position with the Lords.”
“Perhaps, but it would also make me an even larger target when one of them thinks I have too much.” He tilted his head. “Why are you asking me such things?”
“I am overwhelmed,” I admit. “That spell would never have reached your borders if I’d been paying attention and nourishing those lands like I do my own.”
“Nonsense. How could you have known? You live thousands of miles away.”
“I could have checked on the property a hundred times.”
“Ninety-nine times you were dealing with Caelan, or your father, or the weight of the crown that no doubt lies heavy on your head.” He tilted the glass back and drank the rest of the liquor. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling the effects of the booze. A liquid warmth spread through my blood, lending everything a sparkling haze. “Nothing surprises me anymore. Do your worst.”
He laughed and pushed the bottle over. As I poured another, he spoke. “Your father thinks I would be a good king.”
My hand shook as I set the bottle down. “Does he now?” I asked quietly.
“I think he’s full of shit and he’s playing a long game where the rules are secret.”
“Sounds about right,” I muttered. “What did you tell him?”
“The same thing I’ve always said. You will choose your own husband and king one day. I am not the kind of male who forces myself on someone, nor do I seek more power than I already have. My people are happy and content. As such, I am happy and content.”
I studied Rowan, the way the low light in the kitchen made the golden highlights in his hair stand out and the green inhis eyes glow. He could not be more different than Caelan in a thousand different ways, and yet he is a Lord as well, a powerful shifter caught up in political games I never wanted to be involved in. He knows how to play his part with charm and cleverness, and yet, I am a wild animal trapped in a net, struggling to find her way out but only succeeding in entangling myself more.
Something grew between us, a fragile and sparkling thing, but I had no closure with Caelan, only hurtful words and wounds. My heart was a bruise, and I didn’t think I could do this all over again, not without losing a piece of myself. I’d trusted Caelan only to be so horribly let down that even thinking of the things that passed between us hurt like a knife slid between my ribs.
“Your father did have a point,” Rowan continued.
“I’m sure I’m going to love this,” I muttered.
He grinned. “He thinks it’s a good idea for you to claim some of my land?—”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he held a hand up. “And I think it’s a good idea. Doing so will help protect my territory from that goddess or witch or whoever it is responsible for this most recent chaos. You destroyed part of the spell on the edge of my border, so we know you can fight this new magic. Encircling my entire territory will keep the spell from spreading.”
“Maybe,” I said, the reluctance in my voice obvious. “A big if. I’m not sure my magic will stretch that far.”
Rowan laughed. “You always underestimate yourself. You’re the fae queen, Evie. The entire world can be yours if you want to take it from the humans or the Lords themselves.”
I grimaced. “No thank you.”
“The fact remains you could easily do this and maybe this is the only way to cast out the magic. See how it works with my lands, then offer to do such for the other territories. Once wefind the culprit, then you can release the Lords’ lands back to them.”
As ideas went, this one wasn’t terrible. “The other Lords covet power too much. They’d never let me take a piece even if it was done to protect them.”
“Ben would. I believe Thorin would as well. Soren is fifty-fifty, but if you brought Moira in to convince him, I think he would bend.”
Moira hadn’t said a word about Soren in months, nor had I seen him around much. That was a story she did not want to tell, but I’d wrest it from her, eventually.
“Ethan and Caelan might be a hard pass, though if Caelan thought it would put him back into your good graces, it’s possible he would relent if only to worm his way back into your life.”
I shot him a dark look.
He winked. “I trust your judgment. You know him better than I do.”
“I really don’t. You’ve known him for much longer than me, and sometimes it seemed like you were the only one able to reason with either one of us.” I squinted. “Why did you do that, anyway? If you felt you wanted us to be more than friends?”
